Westerholm: SKF-kullager borde aldrig hamna i ryskt krigsmateriel

About a week ago Russian drones violated Polish airspace The drones were dismantled and they found SKF bearings in these drones What do you think about Swedish energy products ending up in Russian drones Yes initially that is not good at all SKF bearings are unique in their quality and function So that's pretty dumb that they end up in Russian military equipment The next question one might ask is how did they end up there Then there are two ways to get there Either they have been exported to Russia through a proxy This means through a bulwark or bulwark company that intentionally or negligently violates end-user certificates It is also a bit hard to get this information that is at what point in time were the individual kolkhozes exported To be classified as military equipment I think it's necessary to make bearings in one way or another The second option is that this includes an export commitment from SKF and Sweden directly to Russia or to a third party that may forward it in some way These agreements are governed by the ISB that is the Inspection Authority for Strategic Products which is the agency If the kulagerns are part of a larger shipment with an older date one cannot simply refuse continued exports We have two such examples including the export of Global Eye to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia That means Ericsson's airborne radar system that is for guidance systems We cannot deny Pakistan the right to purchase spare parts since Pakistan and India were later found to be in a military conflict until this system which has already been delivered To clarify these are follow-up deliveries to already completed and approved deliveries It has been a while since all the sanction packages It's also to protect export businesses to maintain some longer-term trust Otherwise one cannot sell military equipment to fighting parties during a conflict Another example is the export of the Howitz-77 system the predecessor of Archer to India There in Sweden we have continuously been able to export both ammunition but now India is producing its own ammunition under license Even spare parts for this system despite the fact that at that time they were in an armed conflict with Pakistan It's a bit hard to say depending on the type of agreement the export was made under If the basic contract is in place and this is considered an additional order to an existing one then it's okay I think Benjamin Dosa and Maria Malmö-Stengård the trade minister and the minister for expressions respectively He has been waiting here for a long time Above all the government of Andersson 1 Magdalena Andersson should take over from Stefan Löfven That government and that minister should have already noticed it while Linda they should have started seeing this Is this something that affects Swedish trade relations and which companies may come under scrutiny So this is again somewhat how the agreement is structured what is it anyway Of course I personally think there are some Swedish kulaks in Russian drones and I don't want to see that It seems these bearings have come from one of SKF's Chinese factories Exports of SKF bearings from China to Russia reportedly amounted to 330 million kronor in 2023-2024 How much security risk is involved in a company like SKF outsourcing its production to a country like China She is obviously clear now Completely clear And China is after all an ally of Russia Oh this is indeed the ultimate question for SKF's shareholders and board as well as for the government to consider at all How is that possible I think that from the government's side and the ISPs' side which are independent entities one should start considering whether it is possible to allow the export of this technology This is not entirely obvious material It may not be the case for bearings which are a Swedish innovation that we own or whether Sweden or SKF owns all the patents But a large part of our materials that go to export are materials consisting of various types of components But it's not exactly simple to sort out what it is we want to prohibit what should be included in all trade boycotts and what should not For if we then look at a system like Global Eye for example or Gripen which is even more current that it has a large proportion of American components in it There one could say that if we are to support Ukraine in this case with the Gripen system then Saab and Sweden must have approval from General Electric for example which produces some of the components in the Gripen system So this is contractual and this is quite complex material I'm not ready to sit here and say right or wrong left or right One must sit down with the agreements even on the bearing side How did this happen Is there any way to get out of this If there is a way to get out of this one must be prepared to compensate SKF from the state's side because it would be a restriction on the company's market conditions I think we need to look at this because I don't want in any way under any circumstances to contribute to the Russian war effort This is part of a larger issue outsourcing A lot has ended up in China resulting in China now having a shipbuilding capacity 350 times greater than that of the US Bland the Gotland color where the two latest Gotland colors are made in China How do you get around this issue and do you see any form of increased awareness about it Britain was when I was young or younger built by the British I think we will see a trend in the next 10-15-20 years depending on the outcome of today's situation in any case and what remains to build on We are entering a period where we will build up our own shipbuilding capacity We are building our own capacity in the defense materials field This will affect not only Swedish legislation but also European legislation I came back from lunch today where we had this discussion with some companies from the American export industry and they are just as concerned as I am What does this mean I think we are about to enter a phase where both the US and Europe will bring back as much of the production currently located in China as possible I think we will be independent of it